First, I attempted to wire up the circuit. This is, tragically, where the results ended.

I could get the LED to turn on when I stuck its connectors directly in power + ground, but when I attempted to connect one leg into the circuit, I could not find a destination for the leg and appropriate code to illuminate the LED.

This presents the reality that I have no real understanding of how this circuit works, and the assistance I secured was inadequate.

However, I had big plans. Here’s the code I was planning if the setup of the project had worked—except it didn’t, so I never got to properly implement it.

After initializing the LED, we’d loop from 0 to 255 (off to full brightness), adjusting the brightness continuously. Then we’d loop from 255 back down to 0, hold on for a second, and the loop would restart itself. The exact timing I’d have to tweak once I saw the project in action, but I didn’t get a chance to do that, so I kept the intervals at power-of-ten integers.

One thing I love about iOS device displays is how they sense the current brightness level & automatically adjust, so you’re not blinded in the dark or unable to read in the light. Since meditation can be done at all times of day—what if we used the potentiometer to implement Auto-Brightness in our meditation device?

This was the next step. I’d map the value of the potentiometer to a brightness scale in the room, then replace the 255 in the code above with a max value calculated at the beginning of the loop. I think this would actually work.

This project ended in despair & frustration, but there’s always next week! I have lots more ideas.